Oneforthetable.com

A simple pasta is a life saver. How many nights are you rescued from eating out of a box just because you know how to throw together a good simple pasta?

First tip: Don't just rely on tomato sauce to coat the pasta. I love good sweet, milky ricotta, and when I'm at a store where I can find it I tend to go overboard and buy a bit too much. So it's ricotta on toast for breakfast, ricotta with fruit for lunch, and ricotta as the "sauce" for a quick seasonal pasta.

(What is good ricotta? It's ricotta made in the real Italian style. It's been allowed to drain of whey, so it's drier. Whole Foods and Costco carry the Angelo and Franco brand; Italian specialty stores are a likely source for the authentic stuff.)

This dish came about through serendipity. I started with ricotta, and then saw I had some pesto and added a couple of tablespoons of that. Then I added some crunchy, sweet baby tomatoes and slices of green onion. While I was waiting for the pasta water to boil, I discovered a couple of tiny zucchini with flowers attached and an ear of corn that needed to be used up. So I cut the niblets off the corn, sliced the zucchini in half lengthwise and shredded the flowers with my fingers.

I added them during the last five minutes of pasta cooking time. Voila.

The big "technique" here is to add a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water to the ricotta mixture to loosen it so that is coats the noodles. I didn't add parmesan because I wanted the clear flavors of the vegetables to dominate. But feel free to add it if you're a cheese hound.

This idea of adding quick-cooking vegetables to pasta cooking water is something to keep in mind when you constantly have vegetables in the fridge thanks to the farmers' market or CSA box. Spinach leaves? Dill? Cauliflower? You get the picture.

Spaghetti with Ricotta, Pesto, Tomatoes, Corn and Zucchini

Serves 2.

1/2 pound spaghetti, or enough pasta for 2 people

1 cup ricotta

2 tablespoons prepared pesto

5 baby tomatoes cut in half

1 green onion trimmed and cut into thin slices, using green part

2-3 tablespoons pasta cooking water

1 ear corn, kernels cut off

4 baby zucchini trimmed and cut in half horizontally OR 1/2 zucchini cut into thin slices

Zucchini flowers (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Grated parmesan or pecorino for garnish (optional)

1. Bring water to a rolling boil. Add salt to taste. Add pasta and give a stir. Stir again after 3 minutes to prevent sticking.

2. As spaghetti cooks, combine the ricotta, pesto, tomatoes and green onion in a bowl. Once the pasta is cooking, take a couple tablespoons of the cooking water and add to the bowl. Stir the ricotta and other ingredients briefly to allow the water to loosen the ricotta. If you feel it needs a bit more loosening add more pasta cooking water 1 tablespoon at a time. Do not let it get too watery. You want the ricotta to act as a sauce to coat the pasta.

3. When pasta is half cooked, add the corn, zucchini and zucchini flowers if using. Cook until pasta is al dente.

4. Drain pasta and add to bowl with ricotta mixture. Season to taste. Use tongs or two forks to toss pasta well in sauce. Serve immediately. Pass the parmesan or pecorino if desired.

(Evan Kleiman is a speaker on culinary topics, food culture and sustainability. She blogs at evankleiman.com. One for the Table is Amy Ephron's online magazine that specializes in food, politics, and love. http://www.oneforthetable.com/.)